Coolant in Engine Oil Help

[blbills]

2005 CRF 450R.

 

About 5 miles into my ride today I noticed milky engine oil draining out the airbox onto my swingarm.  Checked my oil level and it was all the way up to the cap!  Checked my coolant and it was just about empty  

 

 Bike still runs and starts great.  Added some water to the radiator and limped it back to the truck.  Interestingly enough I checked my coolant level once I got back to the truck and it was still topped off. Does that mean the bike needs to get real hot before it continues to leak?

 

Tranny oil looks fine.  Does that mean everything is OK with the waterpump?  

 

Should I focus on the head gasket or are there other potential areas that should be looked into before I tear the engine down?

 

 

Thanks for your help.

[blbills]

Anyone?

[Ge4orce]

In my case the transmission oil was full of coolant. It was the oil seal between the engine and the impeller shaft of the waterpump that leaked. However if the coolant is in the engine oil is probably is the head gasket. My bike is a 2012 model but it should be the same on your bike. Hope this helps.

[Shawn_Mc]

Youve lost the seal on the right side of the engine at the crank and it pulled all the oil out of the trans into the engine side. The excessive oil in the engine can make it run too hot, which may have boiled the water out of the rads. 

 

A minimum, you need to pull the right side case, clutch, clutch basket, primary drive gear and replace the seal. May as well do the water pump seals at the same time. 

 

Its an easy job. I can do it in an hour. 

 

Engine stays in the frame, just take the brake lever off. 

[blbills]

Youve lost the seal on the right side of the engine at the crank and it pulled all the oil out of the trans into the engine side. The excessive oil in the engine can make it run too hot, which may have boiled the water out of the rads. 

 

A minimum, you need to pull the right side case, clutch, clutch basket, primary drive gear and replace the seal. May as well do the water pump seals at the same time. 

 

Its an easy job. I can do it in an hour. 

 

Engine stays in the frame, just take the brake lever off. 

Are you sure?

 

I drained both oils.  The engine oil definitely had coolant in it.  The tranny oil while I didn't measure how much I removed, it looked OK.  Fairly dark but OK.

 

Is there any way to have a better idea which seal is leaking?  

 

Finally, from my searches it looks like if it's anything to do with the waterpump that the tranny oil would have the coolant in it not the engine oil.

[Shawn_Mc]

shoot, I miss read the original post. 

 

Youve probably got a blown head gasket. Its not that uncommon. Milky oil in the engine is a no brainer, and the low coolant is because the compression of the engine blew it out the radiator over flow. 

[bushman45]

ya could be a base gasket also. I had a head gasket leak and it ran like Thomas, puffin'.

[blbills]

Thanks for your help guys.

 

I'm not taking any chances on this one and since I bought the bike used I decided to tear it all apart to inspect everything.  While I was in the right side I figured I'd replace a couple other wear items.

 

So far I've replaced the following:

Clutch hub

Clutch basket (Hinson)

Added Rekluse auto clutch

Waterpump shaft

WP oil Seal

WP coolant seal

WP bearing

OEM Right engine case gasket

 

I'm only into the valve cover on the head (valve clearances are within spec) and now its time to replace the head gasket and base gasket.  I've never dug into a 4 stroke that far but hopefully it won't be too bad.

 

Does everyone just recommend to remove the sub frame to pull the carb off the head?  Can anyone think of anything else to inspect while I've got the head torn apart?

 

 

Thanks!

Edited October 4, 2013 by blbills

[Shawn_Mc]

Easy way to deal with the carb/air boot is to just leave air boot attached to the carb and remove the top bolt on the shock for space, pull the carb out that way, past the shock. Sub frame off, of course. 

[blbills]

OK, got the head off.

 

The previous owner said that the engine was rebuilt 10-15 hours ago.  What do you guys think from these pictures?

 

I imagine I can just take the rough side of a sponge combined with some alcohol or kerosene to clean off the piston top and valve head.

 

No glaring source of the coolant leak visible but from what I've heard you can't really tell that one of your gaskets is damaged visually.

[Shawn_Mc]

He may have put a piston in it 15 hours ago, But he either didnt hone it and properly seat the ring, or the carbon in the head is saturated with coolant and looks oily. 

[blbills]

Update: Rebuild Complete!

 

Thanks for everyone's help, things turned out great.  Can't tell you how nice it is to get back on the bike!

 

Replaced the head gasket and base gasket and that seemed to do it. The most labor intensive part of the whole thing was cleaning the head/valves from all the coolant and oil.

 

She runs like a champ now.  If I can do this anyone can.  It's really not that bad.

[mw878]

OK, got the head off.

 

I imagine I can just take the rough side of a sponge combined with some alcohol or kerosene to clean off the piston top and valve head.

 

Is this what you did to clean the valve head? Did you just leave the valves in place when doing so?

[blbills]

Ended up using a wire brush with lots of elbow grease:D Left the valves in place and that seemed to be fine.

[mw878]

That's the original piston? If so that turned out great!! Were you able to clean up the exhaust valves better?

[blbills]

Original piston. The piston actually came clean in less than 10 minutes.

The labor intensive part was the head. You can see a clear difference between the titanium intake valves and the steel exhaust ones. The titanium ones had some pitting that I couldn't remove.

[mw878]

Gonna start on mine this weekend(if RMATV sent everything), hope it turns out that good.